Nacirema Culture Research Paper

Horace Miner writes that the Nacirema people can be described as magic-ridden people. They have very many burdens they have imposed unto themselves; for example, the excretory rituals. These are rituals that puts one ethnic group very distinct as compared to others, and by and large, it makes them consolidate their beliefs and activities. In the eyes of modern culture, the Nacirema culture presents a ‘?crazy scenario.’? However, the Nacirema people as explained in the article are not ready to abandon or put down the ‘?perceived burdens.’? They are ready to continue with them. In themselves, they value what they do as superior and something which cannot be interfered with by other cultures.

Cultures are extremely important, and everyone is part of one. You often hear this word at home, in the news, or at school. Culture is something that defines you. Furthermore, culture is something that can describe you. It is what makes you similar to some people, and what can make you drastically different from others.

This article starts by stating that it is going to describe the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema people and it seemingly does just that (Miner). The normality of the American way of living is removed and just the facts are left to be described as a seemingly different culture. Upon rereading, there are many facts that show the reader that the author is talking about Americans, but they are easily skimmed over with the guise that this is some other culture. For Example, the author even states that the Nacirema live in North America between Canada and Mexico (Miner). He even goes on to tell the reader about their cultural hero Notgnihsaw, which is Washington spelled backwards, and mentions his feat of cutting down a cherry tree (Miner).

In the article Body Ritual among the Nacirema, the author, Horace Miner, discusses the various types of strange rituals the tribe of Nacirema performs. The main reason for these rituals is that these people believe that the natural human body is unattractive according to their established standards. The article is solely focused on the rituals and traditions that the Nacirema go through on a daily basis. Their primary focus is centered around appearances and health instead of their economy. The Nacirema believe that by going through these rituals, it would help avoid diseases and to improve the “ugliness” associated with their bodies. A huge portion of their daily time is devoted towards this aspect of life. The Nacirema people have specialists

The Olmec are believed to be the first great Mesoamerican civilization. The city known as San Lorenzo existed around 1200BC and declined in 400 B.C. It is considered to be the first major city in ancient Mexico.

The ethnography of the Nacirema is complex. Miner gives plenty of examples of the culture to allow the reader to understand that the Nacirema society is actually referring to the American people. Miner wrote, “The holy-mouth-man opens the clients mouth, and using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes with decay have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes.” (Miner. 2017) As I read about this ritual I found similarities that could be compared to Americans getting their cavities filled. He also includes the rituals of where men, “...scrape and lacerate their face with a sharp instrument.” (Miner. 2017) Which would be equivalent to men shaving their face and getting razor cuts. It is also explained that the Nacirema

In the Body Rituals of the Nacirema, the author Horace Miner makes a very intriguing analysis of the Nacirema culture and their beliefs. Throughout the course of the passage, we are able to see how he closely observes the nacirema culture and tries to understand their living habits and daily lives. Miner explains to us how their culture consists of unusual practices and almost magical rituals. Of course, the work that occurs throughout the passage resembles the work that a cultural anthropologist would do. A cultural anthropologist travels to different parts of the world in order to observe and study a plethora of different cultures and their beliefs. In the beginning of the passage, Miner explains how an anthropologist becomes accustomed to the peculiar traditions of different cultures because they interact and closely examine them. It is this reason why I believe this article would fall under the field of cultural anthropology. Cultural Anthropology is defined as the study of culture, traditions, and environment (Haviland, 2017). The passage allows us the opportunity to closely examine the ways and traditional beliefs of the nacirema . For instance, in the passage Miner states that the Nacirema loathe their physical appearance, “The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” (Haviland, 2017). Horace Miner not only focuses on their beliefs but their perspective and way of

In these cultures (Native American, Puritan, African) and including mine, we all have a religion and in these religions we believe in a God. We all have similar beliefs in are religions. Such as another place we go when we die like Heaven. These beliefs aren’t the exact same because the Puritans believe in one God and one God only. But then there is the Native Americans that believe in their God and sprits. But believing in a heaven isn't the only thing are cultures have in common. We also believe that if you do something bad there is a consequence and if you do good things you will be rewarded eventually. A lot of people think that are cultures are completely different but in reality we are very much a like. I am part Native American in

It is so easy to access your own culture to examine aspects; however, this paper will flip the script using an etic view to gain a better understanding of American culture from an outsider’s perspective while taking on an insider’s perspective to examine another culture, Japan using an emic view. Cultural relativism tells us that we must examine beliefs and activities of other cultures with a meaningful understanding of the context of that particular culture, background, history, and practices from an emic perspective without prejudice or superiority (Crapo, 2013).

Sometimes people in the second generation sometimes disown their parents – they want to assimilation and fit in. The first generation have a sense of pride and connection to their original homeland while the second generation wants to fit in and have there own security with there ‘new’ country. The culture paradigm shifts towards the state and away from their ‘nation’.

The culture of the Nacirema is really defined by a highly developed market economy (American Anthropologist 58 (1956)). A lot of time is devoted to economic advancements, but equally, a large amount of time is put aside for rituals that the Nacirema perform. The point of the rituals is ultimately maintaining homeostasis of the body, which the Nacirema people put much emphasize on. This doesn`t sound any different than any other culture, especially American; what stands out about this is the way that the Nacirema conduct their rituals.

Native Americans and Asian Americans have historically been cruelly misrepresented in mainstream American media. We see the effects of this in the dancing “Apache” during halftime of a college football game or the ‘model minority’ labelled as foreigners for taking our jobs. While similar in overall degradation of cultural values and public image, I would argue Native Americans have suffered by lack of support for their values and culture within America’s schools and popular culture while Asian Americans have altogether been ignored because of their “foreign” nature.

The Native American culture is one that is often times overlooked in the society that we live in today. They were the first ones to settle in North America and have been here longer than any one else. Keeping to themselves has not really given the opportunity for the rest of the world to learn more about there culture that has a lot to offer.

The article give a great insight into the life and cultural rites of the Nacirema people. It seems there are two group of people at either ends of the Body Ritual ceremonies with one group benefiting more than the others. The healers (medicine men, herbalists and holy-mouth-man) are all directly benefiting as they require a fee for their services. On the other hand, the healing of the people is dependent on chance. This made me recall similar habits of medicine men back home.

I think the author is taking a cultural relativism point of view. First of all, in this article much information about rituals, ceremonies, and other background on the Nacirema has obtained by researcher’s actually living with the Nacirema people. I think the method, living with the subjects of research and observing them very closely, was to understand them from a sense they think and behave. Second, the author wrote that developed civilization we are enjoying ultimately stems from the phase of magical rituals and beliefs. That seems to give the credit to the Nacirema culture and value the culture as it is. The author’s style of writing was not that he thinks the technically developed civilization is superior to the Nacirema culture,